Society” “Research Concerning Waste Management Technology for Safety and Security, Such as the Solution of the Asbestos Issue ” and “Research Concerning the Solution of Driftwood and Driftwaste Issues”, along with establishing a “Special Category for 3Rs Initiatives”.

As for technology development projects, great emphasis was placed on themes such as “Development of Waste Biomass Utilization Technology” and “Development of Technology concerning the Detoxification of Asbestos Waste”, with the aim to develop technologies that will influence the next generation, such as waste treatment technology.

Also, where research and development expenses for pollution prevention from among other research and development expenses for global environmental conservation are concerned, “Research to Contribute to the Establishment of a Sound Material-Cycle Society” continued to be among the items requiring special enhancement on the previous fiscal year, and research and development for five issues such as the development of waste treatment/reuse technologies was implemented.

Development of a new scientific technology for converting resource molecules that can be effectively utilized into a usable substance/material, and an innovative environment restoration technology for dissolving air pollution molecules such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) or dioxins and converting them into environment-friendly molecules are promoted, in order to realize the conservation of the global environment and the sustainable development of human society at the same time.

Also, efforts were made by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to establish a biomass utilization model for implementing comprehensive utilization of biomass as fuel and material according to their regional characteristics, along with developing the technology for producing low-cost high-efficiency bio fuel and the technology for utilizing biomass as materials, in order to promote the utilization of organic resources such as wood waste, livestock manure or waste edible oil as biomass.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry have been collaborating to promote the “Element Strategy/Rare Metal Substitute Materials Development Project”. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is promoting research development for creating new materials, by substituting rare elements with more common elements, from the viewpoint of studying the roles of elements that determine the characteristics/functions of substances/materials and utilizing them, in the “Element Strategy Project”. On the other hand, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry through the “Rare Metal Substitute Materials Development Project” has launched technology development toward substituting/reducing usage of indium for transparent electrodes used in liquid crystal panels, dysprosium for rare-earth magnets, and tungsten for carbide tools.

Also, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is promoting the development of photocatalysts that obtain hydrogen by dissolving water using sunlight, and of solid acid catalysts that dissolve non-edible parts of plants such as cellulose, converting them into sugar.

In addition, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has formulated a research and development project where multiple technology developments and related policies toward their realization are bundled together as technology development strategies, and has been implementing research and development of technology for practical application to contribute to the promotion of the 3Rs in the field of the environment - 3Rs within the project, and in FY 2008, has conducted technology development for making high strength building materials, for recycling rare metals, and for resource conservation.

The National Institute for Environmental Studies worked on the steady implementation of the “Priority Program for Sustainable Material Cycles”, which is one of the priority programs mentioned in the Second Medium-Term Plan (program period: FY 2006 to 2010).

## (6) Facilities

Support was provided for advanced projects to improve recycling-related facilities, within the “Eco-Town Plan” (Figure 4-1) implemented under the coalition of the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, with the aim of establishing a socio-economic system with environmentally sound resource cycles in the local area.

As for livestock manure generated by the livestock industry, implementation of appropriate treatment and effective utilization were promoted, based on the Act on the Appropriate Treatment and Promotion of Utilization of Livestock Manure (Act No. 112 of 1999).

Under such circumstances, wide-ranging efforts were made for such projects such as the improvement of composting facilities, along with creating plans for distributing and utilizing compost/rice straw, in order to promote distribution/utilization through strengthening the cooperation between livestock farmers and crop farmers in the cyclical use of livestock manure and rice straw.

In addition, support for improving facilities to reduce sewage sludge and promotion of new technology development had been implemented.

In the Kinki region, the Osaka Phoenix Project was promoted, based on the Law for Bay Area Marine and Environment Consolidation Centers (Act No. 76 of 1981), and disposal sites in Amagasaki, Izumi-Otsu and Kobe are accepting wastes discharged from 6 prefectures and 175 municipalities of the Kinki region.

As a waste treatment countermeasure at ports, subsidies were provided for sea wall construction for landfill sites of 21 ports, during FY 2008. Also, a project to effectively utilize surplus soil generated from construction works in the national capital region cross-jurisdictionally as resources for constructing ports (the so-called “Super Phoenix”) was commenced in FY 1994 in order to promote resource recycling, and in FY 2008, surplus soil generated from construction works were accepted at Hiroshima Port and other areas.

## (7) Prevention and removal of obstacles to living environment conservation

In order to prevent improper treatment of industrial wastes such as illegal dumping, and to remove obstacles, efforts were made to intensify surveillance by strengthening the coopera-